Russia

Hundreds of Russians lined up outside Moscow's former KGB headquarters on October 29 for an annual ritual commemorating the tens of thousands of people executed during the Great Terror of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Each victim is granted just a few words -- name, age, occupation, and the date when they were killed, usually by a shot to the head.

A money-laundering scandal is casting Moldova’s judiciary in an unfavorable light and is raising concerns about the government’s commitment to reforms needed to keep European Union integration on track.

Almost a century ago, amid the civil warfare that erupted following the collapse of the tsarist empire, a Ukrainian army led by Nestor Makhno marched under the banner, “anarchy is the mother of order.” These days, as a conflict simmers in eastern Ukraine, some Ukrainian entrepreneurs are embracing a far different motto: military necessity is the mother of market invention.

Just one month after his inauguration as de facto president of the breakaway Georgia region of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba is facing a storm of protest against the new draft treaty on union relations and integration that Moscow submitted two weeks ago for discussion to the Abkhaz parliament.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. asylum applications from Russian nationals have jumped 15 percent for the second straight year, a rise that asylum seekers and attorneys attribute to Russians fleeing their homeland due to fears of persecution and antigay violence.

Russia's Justice Ministry has asked the country's Supreme Court to liquidate Memorial, the country's oldest and best-known human rights organization, which groups together more than 50 bodies nationwide.

Armenia has finalized its accession to the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, an intended regional counterweight to the European Union. But while Armenian and Russian officials focus on future prosperity, some Armenian observers believe membership in the bloc could exacerbate Armenia’s security challenges.

WASHINGTON – A leading Russian economist says he was forced out of his job as editor of an influential newsletter published by a top Moscow university due to his criticism of the Kremlin's economic stewardship.